Petition to urge Vietnam's Parliament not to approve Bill on Cyber Security

To: Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan of Vietnam's National Assembly and its members

We, Vietnamese citizens living in the country and abroad, urge all the members of the country's highest legislative body, the National Assembly, not to approve the draft Law on Cyber Security which is scheduled on June 12, 2018.

We find that the proposed provisions of the draft Law on Cyber Security do not contain reasonable methods to ensure online security of the State and the people. Instead, the draft law has the potential to violate the basic rights of citizens, as follows:

Infringes people's privacy and confidentiality, as the bill requires Internet Service Providers to verify users' personal information and provide this information to authorities upon request without being approved by courts. As such, the law enforcement agencies shall have the right to request supply of user's information at any time, without the need to prove that the individual has violated any law. This poses a major risk of infringing individual privacy. Meanwhile, the rule of law states that the deprivation of freedom of an individual must be decided by the court only, even if the individual is guilty.

The draft aims to limit the freedom of expression when it requests Internet Service Providers delete information posted online if the information is identified as "bad" or "malicious", as well as request Internet Service Providers to keep traces of Internet users and hand them over to authorities. Meanwhile, "bad information" is weakly defined and there are no specific rules or procedures which citizens can use to defend their opinions in transparent and fair procedures.

The bill states that Internet Service Providers are requested not to provide or stop providing telecommunication, Internet services and value-added services to organizations and individuals that publish information with "bad" content. So when regulators determine that an organization or individual is publishing information deemed "bad" or "malicious," the organization or the individual will be deprived the right to use the Internet, which is one of the basic human rights in the modern world and cannot be deprived.

Conclusion

For the above reasons, we urge all the members of Vietnam's National Assembly

1. Not approve this draft Law on Cyber Security;

2. Request the Government and related agencies to build a new Law on Cyber Security which can ensure security of the Internet in a reasonable manner without infringing upon the rights of the people.

We believe that the legislators, in their capacity as representatives of the people, will listen to people's opinions when debating and approving a law which would violate the people's rights and affect citizens' freedom.